that i would not use those words, what's your reaction? >> it's craziness. he struck me then, and still does, as just a sort of massively insecure braggert that will say anything to make himself seem cool. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. thanks to all of you for watching. have a safe weekend. anderson is next. nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr. flynn. good evening. those are the words of white house lawyer ty cobb. tonight, to the contrary, the many implications for current and administration officials, a former national security adviser michael flynn's guilty plea in the russian investigation. the many ways it suggests there may be far more to come, because he also agreed to cooperate with robert mueller. the many ways it undermines virtually everything the president and his surrogates have been saying about russia

for month after month after month. the many ways it fills in pieces oh of a fact picture, and potentially bleak picture for the white house. people close to the president, notably-in-law jared kushner and perhaps the president himself. whatever comes to pass, what happened today the fact that flynn lied to the fbi and what's contained in the court filing moves the needle. it gives context to everything we've learned so far. and keeping them honest tonight, it stands in sharp contrast to what much of the administration has been saying about russia again and again and again. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. >> russia is a ruse. there is no collusion. you know why? because i don't speak to russians. this russia thing with trump and

russia is a made-up story. the entire thing is a witch hunt. look, there's been no obstruction, there's been no collusion. all i can tell you is this, there was no collusion. there was no nothing. russia has 20% of our uranium. i think that's your russia story. that's your real russia story. not a story where they talk about collusion, and there was none. >> well, that has been the line, even as one revelation after another undermines it. first, with respect to contact during the come pain, some of which the guilty plea of george papadopoulos revealed. he was derided as a mere coffee boy by people in the white house. however, former defense intelligence agency director, former national security adviser of the president of the united states is no mere coffee boy. he was central to the campaign and central to the transition. simply put, part of the tight inner circle. a big fish. and now for robert mueller, a

big catch. a big piece in this puzzle, as well. with the information contained in michael flynn's plea, a window opens into contact with russia during the transition, possibly illegal attempts to conduct foreign policy, and then lying about it during his brief tenure as national security adviser. today's news sheds light on something sally yates said to me about the trip she made to the white house on the 26th of january to warn that general flynn lied about at least one russian contact and was therefore vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. when were you first made aware that general flynn was lying about his interactions with the russian ambassador? >> first, let me say, and i know this may seen artificial, i can't talk about what general flynn's underlying conduct was, because that's based on classified information. >> can you say when you were made aware about an issue with his underlying conduct? >> it was in the early part of

january, where we got some indication about what he had been involved in. and then sort of the middle part of january when there were false statements that started coming out of the white house based on misreprese misrepresenttations he mad made to people there. >> she was fired five days after first wash warning the white house, and flynn was allowed to stay on another two weeks, even though the white house knew flynn was lying about russian contacts. getting back to the underlying conduct, it is revealed that robert mueller's charging document today centers on late december. before we dig deeper on that with our correspondents and our legal panel over the next hour, this is happening weeks after the u.s. intelligence community warned that russia had meddled in the election. and at the very same time that president obama is sanctioning russia for that meddling. obviously, after the trump tower meeting, the russian contact by carter page and now we know

george papadopoulos. additionally it came after the contacts with the russian ambassador serge kislyak during the republican convention, after the december meeting at trump power involving flynn and jared kushner, which kushner asked about setting up a private communications channel with the trump team and the kremlin. so this transpired after related developments, and prior to many others, including the president allegedly asking james comey to go easy on flynn. his firing then of james comey, leaning on republican lawmakers to end their own investigation. and of course, the naming of robert mueller. according to the charging dodgement, on or about the 28th of december, as president obama announces sanctions, kislyak contacts anyone. the next day, flynn contacts a senior transition official. we now know who she is. then he calls serge kislyak, and according to the charging

document, lies about it to the fbi. the russianing you'll recall do not retaliate for the sanctions, which raised questions at the time. the 30th, president-elect trump tweets -- kellyanne conway was at mar-a-lago, and her line, nothing was going on. >> we've been talking about this for a while. i think that all we heard all through the election was russia, russia, russia. whenever it came to anything donald trump said or did, and now since the election, it's just this fever pitch of accusations and insinuations. and we know why hillary clinton lost. i think the clues are obvious, they were obvious to us all along. they're obvious to everyone now. and i don't believe vladamir putin deterred her from competing in pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan. states that donald trump carried for the first time as a republican in decades. >> so again, she said that on or around the very day we now know

flynn was talking to russianing and reporting back to mar-a-lago where kellyanne conway did that interview. and later on "face the nation," here's what mike pence said about flynn's conversations with kislyak. >> it was strictly coincidental they had a conversation. they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states' decision to expel diplomats or impose a censure against russia. >> well, today's charging documents suggest clearly otherwise about that and about more, and as the repercussions are just beginning, we are learning more about the events described in them, and the circumstances surrounding them. so with that, for the very latest, i want to go to pam lo brown. so just walk us through what happened today in court, specifically what flynn admitted to lying about. >> anderson, flynn's charge to lying to the fbi and the plea agreement center around confidences he had with russian

ambassador to the u.s. serge kislyak in december last year. and the court documents filed, we learned on december 29th. flynn called his subboar nat kd mcfarland, where they discussed the sanctions being imposed on russia. others at that meeting include reince priebus, steve bannon and kellyanne conway. according to flynn, the transition officials did not want russia to escalate the situation. so flynn immediately called kislyak asking russia not to overreact to sanctions that the u.s. government imposed on russia that day. flynn called mcfarland back and grievf e briefed her on the phone call. vice president pence stated on national television in january the next month, sanctions were not discussed with kislyak. now we're learning that administration officials beyond flynn knew that and knew that

was a lie. also today, another interaction flynn had with the russian ambassador was revealed. on december 22, a senior trump transition official, who we now know is jared kushner -- and to learn where each government stood on the resolution, and to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution. so anderson, today the government said flynn lied about those conversations with kislyak in his fbi interviews. >> so how did mueller and his team of investigators get flynn to cooperate? >> flynn entered into a plea agreement. he pled guilty to lying to the fbi in exchange for providing information to the prosecutors that the prosecutors view as helpful in their investigation. flynn has also, as we know, been concerned about possible legal exposure for his son over his

ties to turkey. so this could have been a way for flynn to protect his family, protect his son. in a statement released today, he acknowledged wrongdoing and he said, my guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel's office reflect a decision i made in the best interest of my family and of our country. anderson? >> what could flynn be facing if convicted? >> he could face five years in prison. today, the judge said he could impose a harsher or lighter sentence. since flynn is cooperating, a harsher charge or sentence would be unlikely. and what happened today raises the question of what's next? now that flynn's cooperating, we know the investigation continues, particularly in the obstruction of justice probe. interviews are still happening. and mueller's team interviewed jared kushner earlier this month, and it now appears they wanted to get his version of events before today's plea agreement knowing what they already have from flynn and

other witnesses, and clearly the version of these court documents is what mueller thinks is true, but it doesn't line up to what people at the white house are telling us. they are telling us kushner didn't direct flynn in that phone call. >> pam brown, thank you very much. i want to bring in our legal team. jeffrey toobin, michael zelton, and former virginia attorney general cam cushanelly. the fact that flynn is now cooperating, what stands out to you in these filings? >> it's hard -- there have been so many discrete facts. let me point to one of them. when james comey was fired, he testified afterwards about his contacts with the president, president trump. his constant requests to limit the investigation, you know,

show your loyalty. but on february 14th, it was the most extraordinary contact between trump and comey. there was a meeting in the oval office, and trump shoed away the vice president, the attorney general, and it was just man-to-man with -- with comey. and what does donald trump say? he says, i want you to go easy on michael flynn. flynn's a good guy. leave flynn alone. today, we learned maybe why he was doing that, because flynn knows a lot about the misconduct that was going on in the white house. and the fact that he was trying to cover up for flynn is really i think an incredibly damaging piece of evidence about the president's kulculpability in a that's gone on here. so i think the juxtaposition of today's guilty plea and the encounter with comey on february

14th is a really damning portrait. >> so you're saying the idea that it was kushner directing michael flynn, are you saying it's possible the president was directing kushner to direct flynn? >> i don't want to get ahead of the evidence. jared kushner, why jared kushner is involved telling anyone what to do is kind of a mystery, given his complete ignorance and absence of experience and knowledge of any of the things he was dealing with, and continues to deal with in the white house. so i don't believe that jared kushner just woke up one morning and decided to tell michael flynn what to do with the russian ambassador. but i do think that the issue of why the trump administration, the trump transition team, over and over again, was trying to cultivate russia. was trying to ease the sanctions. was trying to make nice with vladamir putin. very smart, according to the

december 30th tweet by the president. that question is still at the heart of this case. why was the trump administration and the trump campaign so solicitous of vladamir putin? >> michael, legally speaking, what could this mean for the in the >> well, it depends on what the president knew and when he knew it and what he did with that knowledge. the thing that's interesting to me about the information that was the core of flynn's guilty plea today is that the lies that mueller chose were lies that related to sanctions and lies that related to the u.n. security council, in language that tracks exactly the logan act. so i think that -- which makes it illegal for an individual private citizen to interfere in government affairs, which is what is alleged here and what alleged kushner did. so these lies point directly to where mueller is going as he

investigates his core mandate of links and coordination between the trump campaign and russia. and the people that are implicated by the lies in this indictment or information and what mueller has to investigate are sessions and kushner and manafort, still for addition allies for flynn junior, and for don junior. so there are a whole host of people who the lies of this information implicate in possible criminal wrongdoing. so for all of these people, they have to be wondering one, if they were interviewed by the fbi, what did they say? and two, will they view -- will they be viewed as this guy was viewed, flynn. because remember, flynn is pleading guilty to a lie based on "i don't recall" as his answer. not just an affirmative lie, i didn't do it. but also, i didn't recall.

anyone who has watched jeff sessions testify has heard him say that a hundred times. also in this information -- >> so that tells you that mueller is willing to bring charges based on an "i don't know" based to an outright lie? >> exactly. and also what's interesting to me is that in this information, they specifically called flynn a surrogate. so anyone who said they were unaware of surrogates interfacing with russia now in mueller's view would not be telling the truth, because this guy, flynn, was called a surrogate by mueller. so if sessions knew of these meetings, if any of those five people that knew put up on the screen that were at mar-a-lago knew of this and said no surrogates had dealings with the russians, that in mueller's view is untrue. so there's a lot of sort of traps in this information for people as mueller goes forward. but it's rear that he sees this as a big part of his mandate of hinges and coordination.

>> carey, mueller would not have made this deal with nine if mueller didn't already know what flynn had to offer about other people up the food chain, correct? >> no, that's right. that's how this process works in terms of the information that flynn would have had to already have provided to the special counsel's office so that they have a road map for what information he has available to him. it's so important to note that michael flynn was charged with one count of making false statements. and yet in the information itself, the document that lays out the basis for that claim, there were several instances just in the four corners of that document indicating that he did not tell the truth to federal investigators on several points. and that in itself is just a small snapshot of the information that he would have already provided to

investigators and the information that he knows and that they think he can provide in the future. so they charged him with one count matter very small, discrete charge that is only a tiny portion of the potential information that he can provide. >> anderson, may i add one point to that? >> sure. >> and i agree with that completely, because also in the statement of offense, there was a paragraph that says "and flynn lied about his foreign agent registration dealings." that was not part of the information, but it was part of the statement of offense. so they say he's lied about that. and that is that which implicates his son, because the flynn intel group. so they've already set out another lie in the statement of information, but it's an uncharged lie. so we'll have to see whether or not that's the lie michael flynn, jr. gets charged with as they move forward there. >> ken, what stands out to you? >> well, for one, and it just jumped out as the foreign

registration, that scares them a lot, because that law has not been abided by and enforced very much, and now a lot of people are looking at the potential to amend those filings. paul manafort started that for us. but this continues that concern. it's kind of an unreported side story, not dealing with the central players here. but a lot of people are looking at in washington, i'm sure. with respect to today's action in court, look, michael flynn, especially in the transition, was in the middle of things in media race, as i would say in my high school. and presuming that he's continuing to be cooperative when there's every reason to think that. here's a guy who knows the conversation is going back and forth. but the overarching political question, which really is the bigger one in this whole

situation, that is the potential for collusion with russia. this is all after the campaign, and if michael flynn knows everything there is no know, and tells everything there is to tell, if the campaign still wasn't coordinating or colluding with the russians, and there's no evidence that they were, then the political side of this is eventually going to fizzle away. that doesn't mean michael flynn isn't going to have a felony and paul manafort and so forth aren't going to have a trail of felonies for lying to the fbi. but so far with respect to anything other than manafort's distant financial problems, and failure to file, that's what we have. >> michael? >> i think -- >> what ken is ignoring, the already significant evidence of collusion. donald trump, jr.'s e-mails to set up the meeting with the russian lawyer in june. repeated contacts with wikileaks about disclosing stolen e-mails. that is collusion.

now, i don't know if it's a discrete crime, but to say that there's no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia is simply just not true. >> i've got to get a quick break in. i'll get reaction from the white house and the attempt to deflect attention onto the obama administration, of all places. later, senators get ready to vote on a tax bill as it's still being written right now.

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michael flynn's guilty plea and cooperation with investigators could spare him jail time, does not, however, shield him from the sting of karma or the charge of hypocrisy. >> we do not need a reckless president who believes she is a bov t -- above the law. lock her up. that's right. lock her up! >> lock her up. general flynn, that was at the republican national convention that dominated donald trump, has been for him remarkably quiet since the news broke. as for reaction to the white house, let's go to cnn's jim

acosta who has new reporting on that tonight. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. earlier today, you saw what the white house lawyer was saying, that they're not feeling any anxiety over what michael flynn will be telling the federal investigators. but i just got off the phone a few moments ago with a source close to the white house. a republican, leading republican close to this white house, who said -- described the president and his team as being in denial. they are quote, totally in a bubble according to the source, and that the president and his team should be treating what happened today like a red alert. this source said that there have been conversations going on with the president's team, with multiple republican sources outside the white house. and what is often told to these folks outside the white house is the president believes he's going to be exonerated and this will wrap up very soon. but in the words of this source that i just got off the phone with, the feeling with this

source is that they are just living inside of a bubble right now, that they're in denial as to what is happening with this russia investigation. and that this source believes the white house at this point should be getting off of this posture of not feeling the pressure, not feeling the heat and should be treat thing like a "red alert." that's how the source described it tonight. >> do we know -- does the president talk with jared kushner about the investigation? i mean, i know technically nobody is supposed to do anything like that. obviously this white house is unlike any other. you talk about the mood as being in a bubble. are they in this bubble together or separately in their own little bubbles? >> reporter: i can tell you just based on my own reporting, jared kushner and other top officials in the administration have been in this sort of denial mode for months. i approached senior officials inside the west wing back in february, and they had the same belief that there is nothing to the russia investigation, and they continue to say that, as if you don't really see through the b.s. and the spin.

i will tell you, it was almost absurd to hear what this one senior white house official was saying earlier today, that they aren't feeling any anxiety inside the white house. we know from talking to multiple sources that they're growing weary and nervous. i talked to other sources who said they're worried about all of this. if you look at the statement from ty cobb earlier today describing michael flynn as a former obama administration official, that is laughable, only because barack obama fired michael flynn. he warned president trump, president-elect trump not to bring michael flynn into his administration. so there's almost a sign of desperation that you pick up on, anderson, when you talk to folks here at the white house, that they aren't dealing with reality as the source was telling me, that they are living inside of a bubble about this vegs shun. anderson? >> jim acosta, thank you very much. joining us now is dana bash, cnn political analyst carl bernstein and david gergen.

a young david gergen sevened in the nixon white house. dana, you've been working your sources all day. i'm wondering what the fallout is from this. what are you hearing? >> shock. certainly shock from those -- some of those inside the white house who i'm told were surprisingly maybe at this point not expecting something like this. and concern maybe further down the other end of pennsylvania. you have the senate in session, as you mentioned. senators are all around. they're preparing to vote on a tax bill. and there's concern about what the president is going to do next, frankly. concerned about how he's going to react to this, and whatever might come after that. as they're trying to focus on legislation. with regard to the president, i am told from people who are familiar with the atmospherics inside, that he is maybe again not surprisingly in a foul mood,

that he's not happy, and, anderson, that sort of is related to the concern about the president, because as we know, as we've seen in recent history, when the president is in a foul mood, he tends to lash out. but sometimes that gets him in trouble. >> you know, carl, for a president who's been lying about fake news and fake news this and fake news that, there's nothing fake about a guilty plea from your former national security adviser. >> this is the end that this has anything to do with fake news. this is devastating. what mike flynn represents is someone with a view of all of the dealings with russia. he's the person who talked to the president of the united states, to the president's son-in-law, to the president's aides about russia more than any other individual. he is going to tell and testify, whatever those conversations were, with numerous white house

officials what in the world has been going on here, and what this coverup has been about. whether or not it shows absolute collusion or not, we'll find out. is this watergate? we're not there yet. but this is a giant step that we have seen today, and flynn is key. is he john dean? it's funny, bob woodward and i were asking the question to each other today in a telephone call. is he john dean who lays out everything that is a conspiracy? we don't know. but he knows more perhaps than anyone, and this is a devastating event for the white house. >> david gergen, the notion that jim acosta is saying the white .

what i do think it suggests, there are elements, the question i had today was, is mike flynn going to become john dean? i don't think we know that yet, but we do know what -- certainly what was being suggested is that there's been a massive coverup. the question is why? flynn's conversations with kislyak, the russian ambassador, on their face, are fairly -- you

know, they're not that troubling. they're not uncommon, so to speak. but the question is, why lie about them? he only lied because he was trying to protect something. he was trying to protect some inner secrets. now he's going to jail over it. so there are secrets to be unveiled still. we don't know whether it goes as high as the president. we still have no idea about that. i think we ought to be cautious about that. we don't know whether it's going to cover more than -- in fact, it's going to cover kushner. but it clearly when your national security adviserer is willing to lie like that, as he did, and now take the hit, there's something bigger going on, and mueller is going to get to the bottom of it. he seems to be doing a professional job. >> dana, george papadopoulos lied about it as well in an interview. >> yes. and papadopoulos was, you know, on the outer rings of the circle. you don't get more inner circle

than michael flynn. he was not only the national security adviser for a month, but more importantly, he was in the transition, and he was on the president's plane. he was by the president's side day in and day out during the campaign. and if there was any collusion which was the origin of this robert mueller investigation, if there was any collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government, because of his role and because of his proximity to the then candidate, he should know and could know. one of the things i wanted to point out, i was talking to a senior republican on capitol hill who noted that when michael flynn put out his statement today, he said it was for his family and for his country. that struck this source and others on capitol hill saying okay, well, what does he think he needs to protect his docount

from by giving this plea deal? that raised some alarm bells in the white house. >> the key difference between watergate and what we're witnessing now is, watergate was not about president nixon's family. and the family dynamic here is absolutely crucial, and may help explain some of the president's erratic behavior. but his family, both his son, donald junior, and his son-in-law, are under serious investigation, are in the cross hairs of this investigation. and that's very different than watergate because of the personal stakes, not just about the president of the united states and what he knew and when he knew it, but those of his children and his son-in-law as well, and now we also know that business questions are also under investigation, and that may figure in what this coverup has been about in terms of russia and what we saw today.

>> yeah. david gergen, carl, dana, thank you very much. coming up, a lot more to cover on this. reaction from two of our senior political commentators weigh in on what michael flynn's guilty plea signals and what could be coming next. remember how the economic crash was supposed to be a wake up call for our government? people all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. i'm tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. it's why i left my investment firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. but here we are nine years later and this president and the republican congress are making a bad situation even worse.

they won't tell you that their so called "tax reform" plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. it blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. it's up to all of us to stand up to this president. not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. join us. your voice matters.

as we mentioned tonight, as you might remember,

installed as a national security adviser, just copped a plea deal for lying to the fbi. can republicans with a straight face chaim nothilaim nothing to? >> not if they know anything about the real world? i spent about ten years of my

life doing criminal justice work in oakland. i'm going to make this as plain as possible to the cnn viewers. when one of the main home boys turns snitch, a bunch of people about to go to jail. that's just how that works. so this is a huge deal. it is a big deal. whether it imperils trump himself, this is pack mueller. he just got flynn. he's not going to stop. he's got more folks coming. and the fact that he went after flynn, who should be a big fish, this is a big dude, with this little tiny, tiny charge, means that he's got bigger charges coming for bigger fish. this is a huge deal. you cannot pretend it's not. one of your main home boys just turned snitch, all of y'all are in trouble. >> ed, do you agree with that? >> i think of it differently. i think president trump proved yet again, something he's known for his whole career, in fact he's famous for it.

this is -- this guy mike flynn, surprisingly to many people who knew it, maybe not, but he lied to mike pence, he lied about that, and he was fired for his job, and he lied to the fbi, which even the most basic sort of bureaucrat knows you can't lie to the fbi. so president trump fired the guy within 25 days, realizing he couldn't do the job. it's very unfortunate -- >> wait, let me just stop you there. he was informed flynn lied, and you just said 25 days later -- >> no, no, no, i'm sorry i misspoke, anderson. flynn only worked for 25 days as national security adviser -- >> so the white house was informed and two weeks went by and they kept him in the job until he was only fired because "the washington post" had the story. for a guy -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> the timeline, anderson, i guess you're right.

we're watching a lot of things across the country when people are accused of something, whether it's matt lauer or anybody else, and there's generally come getting to the bottom of it. when you fire a national security adviser four weeks into your presidency, that's not a very good optic. but i think he did. and van put his finger on the problem. it's a zombie prosecutor who is, if he is going beyond what is normal, which i believe he is, and i said from the beginning, this should not be about what is the lies by flynn, what's happened is, this guy mueller is trying to overturn an election now, because he thinks -- >> so somebody should be able to lie to a federal prosecutor and get away with it? >> no, of course not. but what is the purpose of an ever expanding prosecutor -- if you get a federal prosecutor who decides he doesn't like you, you got a lot of trouble, and it doesn't matter what the truth is. he'll find out you filed -- >> van, is that what's happening

here? >> listen, it's amazing to me to hear conservatives concerned about prosecutorial abuse and sometimes prosecutors have too much power. we've been screaming about that in the hood for years. but i don't want for us to go with this idea that, you know, flynn is this minor guy. they got rid of him. nobody was closer to trump than flynn for the whole campaign. he was closer to trump than melania. he couldn't have been closer to trump if his last name was trump. this was a close, close insider the whole time. and after the election, he apparently is, based on his own confession, tried to set up an illegal shadow government in violation of the logan act to implement a program with the russians. why? he just suddenly woke up and thought that was a good idea? and then afterwards, the president's only obsession, the

only person he's loyal to in the world is flynn, begging them to leave flynn alone to the fbi. there is something going on that is big. and the idea that he's going to spill his soul, spill his guts, already has, should have people very nervous. you can pretend, oh, he's an obama official, that's not reality. >> i thought that van was going around trying to find common ground. i agree with you, and as a conservative like me and reince priebus and other-- rand paul a, we have said that prosecutors are out of control and i said that about mueller and comey from the beginning. that's common ground. and van jones, you said it before, nobody thinks that the election was moved by the russians, that the russian investigation is not a serious thing. so now we do have bad actors, i agree. mike flynn has violated the law. he should go away for it. but at this point, we're tying up the government -- >> it seems like the president seems like the russia

investigation is not a real thing. i believe he said that repeatedly, no? >> i think he says what most of us say, which is it's a prosecutor in search of a problem. the election was not changed -- >> he says it's a hoax, that it's fake news. we've got to leave it there. we'll be talking about this for days to come. ed martin, thank you. van jones, as well. up next, a reaction from congress. we'll ha from members and richard blumenthal ahead. (♪) (♪) it all starts with a wish. the lincoln wish list event is here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down and a complementary first months payment. whstuff happens. old

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but we're only as strong as our community. who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. sofi. get there sooner. the president not only repeatedly referred to the russia investigation as fake news and a hoax, but according to a reporting in "the new york

times," pressured top senate republicans to end the investigation into russian meddling in the election. given today's news, there's no doubt the news is reel and robert mueller's investigation continues. joining me is senator richard blumenthal. you called today's guilty plea by michael flynn the tip of the iceberg for not only him but for president trump. can you explain what you mean? >> this guilty plea, an acknowledgement of criminal culpability, is a shattering moment for the trump administration. the reason is, there is an abundance of information that michael flynn can share about the campaign, and its possible collusion with russia. about the transition team and the conversations with russians before president-elect trump took the oath. and afterward, while he was the president's chief national security adviser, and it goes to russian collusion and

obstruction of justice. remember that jim comey was fired because he wouldn't drop his investigation of michael flynn. now that investigation has produced this criminal plea and it will lead to more evidence besides the firing of obstruction of justice. >> do you think it will lead directly to president trump? >> it will lead directly to the oval office, certainly to people at the top levels of the white house. and it implicates president trump certainly. whether there's enough evidence to take further action involving the president is still to be determined. we have a distance to go. but here's what is absolutely certain. this moment is the kind of watergate moment. what does he know and when did he know it? and michael flynn has very direct credible knowledge and he has to tell it all, tell it truthfully and completely for this deal to stick.

>> the new cnn reporting that president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, obviously was directing flynn to contact the russian ambassador, i'm wondering your reaction to that? it runs count tore what the white house has been saying, that michael flynn was more of a freelancer. and the other question is, does jared -- did jared kushner take his orders from the president directly? >> that's a key question, anderson, because clearly from the special prosecutor's statement of the offense, his formal charging and plea document, michael flynn was reporting, he was accountable, and he was directed by senior officials in the transition. one of them apparently jared kushner, the other possibly kt mcfarland. no questions that the transition people was involved. so your question is not only directly relevant to jared kushner, but also to vice president michael pence, because he was very closely involved in

the transition team, and that's one of the reasons why he was written a letter before this guilty plea, asking for facts from his office about what he knew about flynn's conflicts of interest and >> in terms of in terms of the senate judiciary interrogation she what does that mean for the work you're doing? >> the judiciary committee has to move forward with legislation that will protect the special prosecutor against any kind of political interference or firing. and that legislation, which i've introduced, is pending at the bottom of committee. there have been hearings. there should be a markup. it should be passed. so there's no question that the special prosecutor will be protected against trump's threats and bullying. second, the judiciary committee should now issue subpoenas for jared kushner, donald trump jr., testimony to be presented under oath in public and all the documents that may be rest of

it. the judiciary committee has delayed inexcusable in my view, its continuing investigation into obstruction of justice directly relative to the plea today. >> senator richard blumenthal, i appreciate your time. up next, we'll get reaction to the guilty plea. breaking news, also on the tax bill, the republicans say they now have the votes. they're trying to get it done tonight. an update on that next. fargo? $107.00 at...doggie lovers warehouse? no. i would never. "doggie lovers"? please! you know me. i don't even know where that is! look, i'm replying deny. see? oh, come on! [phone rings] hello? wells fargo. i did not make that purchase. i didn't do it! i'm so glad you caught that. uh huh.

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michael flynn's guilty plea in the russia probe and the resulting fallout. general, i want to know what you make of his guilty plea. >> two things. the emotions go back and forth for embarrassed for the army because this is a guy at the senior ranks. there's only about 20 or so three-star generals, the same rank i held in the army, and flynn is one of them. he's given special trust and confidence by the government and the soldiers he leads. so the first part is being embarrassed by what happened today, and the second part had to do with the emotion of being furious. when he came out with his statement and started off by saying, hey, i've served 33 years horn bly and served in combat for five years, while that's interesting, it's also

not important given the situation he's in right now. he went against the constitution of the united states. general officers, soldiers are held to higher standards. we are taught to honor the values of things like duty, honor, country, integrity, respect, loyalty, selfless service, and america expects that of its general officer ranks because they give us their sons and daughters. when you have someone who serves one vigil as opposed to the constitution. country, it makes me furious. >> there's no small bit of irony when it was general flynn who was leading chants about "lock her up." we talked about that during the campaign and there was a lot of reporting from military people who had served with him who were kind of surprised by the role he took on the campaign, the public role, and things like chanting "lock her up."

>> there's a debate, it's a continuous and ongoing debate been the military about how much do retired officers or ncos get involved in politics. it's one thing to support a candidate or speak highly or do programs like some people have done. i'm tempted to be apolitical on this program, but sometimes you get sucked in one way or the other because of action of political candidates. in this case michael flynn went over the top. that was the first indicator that something was desperately wrong with this guy. and i think it proved a lot of people -- it generated quite a bit of discussion in both the retired and the active corps about this individual being vehement, unconstitutional in the way he approached this. >> what happened to michael flynn? he did have -- correct me if i'm wrong, he had a distinguished

career. the work he did in afghanistan with general crystal. what happened to him? >> i don't want to say. i have my own thoughts on that, but i just think that something went wrong toward the end of his career, the demons got ahold of him. for one reason or another, h. tom hybrid application grabs his things and says earn this, and he's talking about service to the country. doing things every day that soldiers will be proud of you. and that's something that for whatever reason, and it's unfortunate because mike flynn did have a good career to a point, it's unfortunate now because he didn't earn it. he stopped earning it, and that's really sad for many of us

that wear the cloth of the country. >> general hurtling, appreciate your time. other breaking news out of washington tonight. there are big moves in the senate on the gop tax plan a bill that wasn't even completely written as of a few hours ago. phil mattingly joins from capitol hill with the latest. >> senate majority leader on the floor now. it's ban remarkable day. senate republicans actually have the votes for this plan this morning. but they didn't have a bill. they spent the last eight hours trying to draft a bill to match up with the deals they made with republican senators to get the votes to pass this plan. now, put this into perspective. this is a historic moment, the senate passing a tax overall, something that hasn't been done in 31 years, moving a step closer to a major domestic achievement for president trump. for hours throughout the course of the day that he haven't had final language on what they agreed to. senate democrats attacked this

idea. they obtained a draft iteration of this bill that had hand-written notes on the side of the, making changes my handwriting, waving it on the senate floor. that's the attack line right now. anderson, republicans have the vote. senator jeff flake came on board because of an expensing provision. susan collins came on board because she got what she happened on the state and local tax deduction. they have 51 senators in the affirmative. all they need to do is vote on it. one more interesting element f you were pay attention last night, this looked like it might actually stall out. the reason, senator bob corker, the issue, deficits. well republican leaders made the clear calculation today. they had the votes to just not care anymore about senator bob corker. they tried to bring him along, his issues before maintained. corker will opposite this bill but it will not sink it. the real question now is when

and perhaps what's actually going to be in that final piece of legislation, anderson. >> phil mattingly, thank you so much. thanks for watching "360." time to hand things over to jake tapper. the le"lead" starts now. good evening and welcome to the special prime time edition of the lead. i'm jake tapper. tonight a source close to the white house tells cnn that the president and the white house are in a bubble when they should be in a state of red alert. this after a bombshell, michael flynn, the president's fired national security adviser and influential official in both the trump white house and the trump campaign today pleaded guilty in federal court for lying to the fbi about conversations he had with russia's ambassador during the presidential transition.